On Friday, January 17, 2003, at 07:31 PM, Brian O. Sheppard wrote:
>
>
> I think this article is just flat-out wrong. There's a trend on the
> left
> where once any left theory seems to become too commonplace, in steps
> some
> other leftist to show how it's "really much more complex than that,"
> and
> more and more I think it's a symptom of the writer/theorist/academic in
> question simply trying to stand out from the crowd rather than trying
> to
> engage in any serious analysis of what's going on.
>
> Doubtless the Iraq situation is more complex than oil. But to say "it's
> not about oil" is wrong.
>
> OF COURSE it would be extremely expensive to occupy and/or administrate
> Iraq. But elites shift the costs of their elitism onto their
> subordinates.
> They try not to bear these costs themselves. Sometimes it is way more
> expensive to bust a union than to simply recognize one; but elites bust
> unions anyway, all the time. "Sooner than lose the things he owns/ he
> will
> destroy the world," the epigraph at the beginning of _Workers Control_
> (eds. Gerry Hunius, G. David Garson & John Case) reads. Who said elites
> are always rational?
>
> In any event, there's every indication the US has an interest in
> controlling the world's energy supplies.
>
> OF COURSE Iraq's oil infrastructure is not as attractive to foreign
> corporations as it could be. Estimates are, however, that much of
> Iraq's
> oil reserves remain untapped (and this article even admits this). I'm
> no
> expert on this, but I'm guessing disrepair of the existing
> infrastructure
> could be offset by this in the future.
>
> "All of Iraq's oil revenue can't pay the cost of war," the article
> announces. Who said it would? Workers back home can pay the cost of
> war.
>
>
> Brian
>
> On Thu, 16 Jan 2003, joanna bujes wrote:
>
>> FYI/Joanna
>>
>>> TheDay.com
>>> http://www.theday.com/eng/web/mktplace/re.aspx?reIDx=0351ae00-6fa4-
>>> 48d4-a333
>>> -6c539fce14a4&prntV=1
>>>
>>> All Of Iraq's Oil Can't Pay The Cost Of A War
>>> Iraq's Annual Oil Revenues At Present Are Only Around $10 Billion A
>>> Year.
>>>
>>>
>>> By TRUDY RUBIN
>>> Published on 1/14/2003
>
> --
>
> "At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do
> not cease to be insipid." - Friedrich Nietzsche
>
> "Il etait enfin venu, le jour ou je fus un pourceau!" - Comte de
> Lautreamont, Les Chants de Maldoror, 4th Hymn, Strophe 6
>